Four Months of Stressful Shadows
by Bml1997
Summary: Pedro and Adriana now must live with their new stresses as a couple. Adriana's father, Pedro's new boss, just adds to their already complicated lives. Can they manage to stay together and mostly sane during Adriana's three months of pregnancy? Can they keep their egg safe during the one month until it hatches? And what will they name this chick?
1. Making Plans

**A.N. ~ Hey, everyone! Here is the start of the sequel to _The Agent and his Shadow_! Please enjoy! :D**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Making Plans**

Pedro reaches sleepily for his alarm clock as it does its early morning song on his nightstand. Adriana mumbles something and sticks her head under the pillow as the clock continues to go off. Pedro reaches farther for the clock and accidentally knocks it off of the stand and it continues to sing on the floor, nearly under the bed. "Will you just get up and shut it up already?" Adriana mutters under the pillow.

"But, I don't want to get up..." Pedro yawns.

"Your fault for going out with Bob and not coming back until after midnight." Adriana mutters, stretching. "Now get up before I kick you from bed myself..."

Pedro yawns. "Go ahead...I'm going back to sle－OW!" He then exclaims as Adriana, as she warned, gives him a hard kick. He just looks at her for a moment before leaning over and getting the alarm clock to make it stop going off. "Happy?"

"As a clam, now go do whatever and let me sleep." She yawns and snuggles almost completely under the covers and her pillow. Pedro lifts her pillow and gives her a quick kiss before getting out of the bed and starting to prepare for his scheduled training period.

It has been a little over a week since that night at the bar when he and Bob had had the argument. Bob did accept the promotion, though he has not left for it yet. He has a lot of stuff to do first before he and his family can move for it. The day after their argument, the two friends somewhat made up. They both apologized and said that they had not really meant everything that they had said, though they both are still hurt by the other's words. Bob no longer completely trusts everything Pedro says, and Pedro knows this. Several times over the past week, he has tried to make up for lying to Bob, but he also knows it will just take time for Bob build up trust in him once again...And with him now engaged to Adriana, it is even harder for that trust to build.

Pedro proposed to Adriana a couple days after the argument; on Valentine's Day, while they were out for a short waddle in the forest around the house. She finally said yes after sarcastically acting at first as if she was going to say no, not that Pedro had expected her to behave any differently.

Diego and Alejandro returned from their boat to their house next-door to Pedro, which has not overly pleased Adriana, especially since now nearly every time she looks out of her window there is a chick running and sliding all around with a little soccer ball or baseball. This said baseball of Alejandro has already 'mysteriously' broken one their window during this past week and Pedro has yet to have a moment to replace it.

Pedro now glances towards this broken window with a small sigh as he waddles over to the drawer in the desk in the living room where he keeps his gun at night and retrieves it. "I need to get that fixed tomorrow…" He mutters as he grabs his house keys and waddles out the door. He is barely out of the house when he gets a text from Adriana.

'_Before you go, can you turn down the heat some and get the grocery list from the table?_'

Pedro then sighs and re-enters the house. "And she always has to wait until I'm leaving for all of this…" He mutters to himself, slightly irritated. He waddles over to the thermostat and adjusts it to a cooler setting. "There, it's set for cooler!" He shouts towards the bedroom and then waddles to the kitchen and grabs the list and looks at it. "What the heck is all this?!" He then says, glancing at the clock and waddling back towards the bedroom.

Adriana looks at him and yawns. "Stuff we need." She shrugs.

"But, since when do we need this much hot sauce or _rainbow_ ice cream?" Pedro asks, looking at the list.

"Since I say so and we ran out." She says as though it ought to be the most obvious thing in the world to him.

Pedro looks at the list. "But, we just bought all of this the other day? We're out of it all already?!"

Adriana just looks at him. "Have you never heard of cravings, Pedro?" She says.

Pedro looks at her and then makes an 'oh' face, followed by a sheepish grin. "Right...Yeah, uh…" He says and glances at the clock again. "Anyway, I'm gone before your father has my tail-feathers." He says.

"He better not end up with your tail feathers!" She calls after him as he leaves the room. Pedro doesn't hear her, though, as he hurriedly slides out of the house.

He _can't_ be late.

He had heard about Agent Lucky being late and how Commander Estrada punished him for it. Lucky apparently did not have his luckiest day that day. Pedro has had a mission with Lucky in the past and had seen on the schedule that he is having another coming up soon with him. He had went to talk with him about that and that is when he found out about the late incident and its repercussions. He had to do _red level_ training procedures. 'Red,' 'severe,' or 'suicidal' level training were almost _always_ reserved for only the top, best agents and fighters, such as commanders and some special operation agents. Lucky was definitely _not_ one of those. After just ten minutes of these brutal warm-ups and exercises, he fell unconscious and the medics had to be called. Pedro knows that, though he is a decent agent, he probably would not do too much better with red zone training exercises himself.

He slides into the base and straight to his assigned training room for today with only moments to spare. He gives a silent sigh of relief. 'That was too close...' He thinks with a silent chuckle to himself and begins his training warm-ups. Today's practice assigned to him is to warm-ups and go to the obstacle course downstairs. That is one of the few training areas that he admittedly has not worked with as much as he should and needs to. These warm-ups take just around fifteen minutes and he slides over to the elevator.

"Say what?" He exclaims as he finds an 'out-of-order' sign taped up on the elevator's door. He then sighs and looks over at the stairs with a small grumble. Reluctantly, he starts down the stairs towards the obstacle course level.

* * *

Adriana finally drags herself up from the bed and waddles to the kitchen. She fixes herself a cup of coffee, not really caring that according to some stupid website that she shouldn't have it, and a bowl of cereal and sits down at the table. She takes out a little notebook and a pencil and opens the book. She starts to write a little in it.

_'22-2-1990_  
_—Once again, Pedro has missed something staring him straight in the face. I seriously wonder how he has survived so long. I mean, surely by now someone like him would have plummeted to their death over a cliff! Or got bitten by some venomous creature while it stares them straight in the eye! If this ex-friend, friend, whatever, has kept him alive, kudos to him. Hopefully our chick will inherit more of my intellect than his, that would be in his or her best interests for sure._

_'It is really hard to not just run out of this country. I can't stand being in the same continent with my father. He is so close, I can almost _feel _him glaring and smell the alcohol...Though that is just probably one of Pedro's bottles. I need to make sure he takes out the trash when he gets back, thinking of his bottles._' Adriana taps her beak a bit in thought and glances towards the window, and like clockwork, there is that chick again with his...No, actually he doesn't have a ball today, instead, he has a frisbee. Adriana sighs a bit annoyed and looks at her book again.

'_And the tiny local has come again. His father really needs to keep him on a leash or in a cage or something so that he stops coming so near this house. Next thing he might do is ask me to _play_._' She shivers a bit at the thought. She hears the phone ring and closes her notebook and gets it.

"Pedro Mateo's casa." Adriana answers and looks a little at the tip of one of her flippers. "No, I'm sorry, he's not in right now...No, I can't take a message, but I'll tell him you called. Who did you say you were again?" She listens and jots down the name 'Guadalupe' on a napkin. "Oh! Are you his sister?" She shakes her head and rolls her eyes. "No, I'm his fiancée, Adriana." She says. "Right...'Kay...Adios." She hangs up and goes back to her book.

'_Penguins can be so irritating to talk to via phone. Why should I take a message? Then I have to deal with him asking stupid questions about whatever stupid thing she tells me to tell him. That all is just too irritating to deal with, in my opinion. She should have called his cell if she _really_ wanted to get some message to him._' She snorts and writes before drinking some on her coffee and eating her cereal. She looks at the clock boredly and tries to think of what all she can plan to do today.

"I could plot a thousand ways to kill my enemies...Not that I am allowed to do any of them…" She mutters as she finishes her coffee. "Or...I guess I could start planning Pedro's and my wedding…" She says thoughtfully. Adriana then takes her dishes to the sink and waddles over to the calendar that hangs on the living room wall. She takes it down and brings it over to the couch with her. Curiously, she counts up the days since that night that she and Pedro had had 'fun'. She marks around when their egg should be due and around a month after that, when it ought to hatch. "I guess if I don't want to look too pregnant in my wedding photos we should do it soon...Or wait until after the egg is laid already…" She says thoughtfully. "I think I will have to see what Pedro's thoughts, if he _has_ any thoughts, would be on that…"

Adriana then puts the calendar back on its peg in the wall and waddles back to the bedroom where she picks up Pedro's laptop bag and opens it. She gets the computer out and sits with it on the bed and looks up on it about weddings and chick names. "Though, we could technically just go get a court office marriage for all I really mind...Not that they would probably legally bind a criminal with him, ha." She mutters. "Though, since I have not ever really have been arrested under my actual name...I suppose we still should be able to...As long as his friend doesn't get a big beak and blabs about me being La Sombra to everyone." She snorts and then goes to the other tab with chick names.

"This would be easier if I knew what the little diablo* is going to be…" She says to herself as she looks at the long lists of male and female names. "And most of these are just stupid." She sighs a little and goes to a different link and scrolls down the site. "Well...That one isn't too too bad...Not too too good either…" She mutters and goes to yet another site with a sigh. "I guess I will have to check Pedrrrrro's thoughts on this matter too...Gran."

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_Translations:_

_*Diablo : devil_


	2. The Yellow Leveled Course

**A.N.— And here is chapter two! :D Enjoy!**

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**Chapter 2: The Yellow Leveled Course**

Pedro slides over to the yellow leveled obstacle course and looks at it. "Is this really my right level?" He mutters unsure. He knows that there are five different color-coded levels of training difficulty; green, purple, yellow, blue, and red, with red being the hardest and green being for beginners. He looks around some and sees a chinstrap penguin on a purple leveled course. He slides over closer to him for a better look. He is not surprised to see that it is Agent Lucky Hernandez. "Hola, Lucky!" He calls over to him.

Lucky looks over towards him and just barely ducks a nun-chuck that was aimed at his head. "What the heck, Pedro?! Can't you see I'm training here?"

"Sorry." Pedro shrugs. "I was wondering if you happen to know which level I'm supposed to be on..."

"And why should I know, man? It's _your_ flipping level! I'm not your Mamá; I don't keep up with your stuff!" Lucky exclaims as he hops over another nun-chuck and rolls under a blast of ice cold water.

Pedro sighs a bit. "I was just checking, jeez." He mutters and slides back over to the yellow leveled course. He glances back towards the purple one. It looks a lot easier than this one and he can't help but wonder if there isn't actually a course in between purple and yellow.

"_AGENT MATEO_!" Then comes a growled shout from behind him.

Surprised, Pedro jumps and quickly spins around on heel with a salute. "Sir." He says and swallows a little silently as he takes in the sight of the large penguin before him. He isn't as big as his friend Bob, but he is still much larger than he is himself. His green eyes are sharp and glaring. His face shows no emotion but anger and a very intimidating look. Commander Estrada has his flippers crossed before him across his yellow-orange chest above the black dots upon the rest of his white underbelly. It isn't hard for Pedro to realize that he apparently is a King-Humboldt mixed breed.

Commander Estrada snorts at his response and looks at him. "Get your tail on that course _now_ or I will throw you up on to a different course. Comprendes?" He growls with narrowed eyes.

Pedro can't nod quick enough it seems before dashing over and on to the yellow leveled course. "And to think he's going to be my padre-in-law...Just imagine how cena de Navidad* would go...Heh..." He mutters.

"Stop muttering, Mateo, and get your flipping tail into gear before I decide to instead mount it on my wall!" He shouts and then takes out a pocket watch and looks at the time. "I'm giving you ninety-five seconds to complete this course, starting...NOW!"

"WHAT?!" Pedro exclaims with a wide open beak and eyes. He stops for a half moment to look at Estrada.

"Did I stutter, Mateo? Now get moving; time's ticking." He replies, swinging the watch with a semi-pleased smirk. This smirk grows wider as he sees Pedro mistime a blast of hard, fast, and freezing water and gets knocked off of the platform and hits a plexiglass dividing wall that separates this course from the blue leveled next to it. Pedro coughs and sputters and wipes himself up off of the floor. Estrada makes a big show of checking his watch. "Sixty-seven seconds!" He shouts.

Pedro slides back to the course and hops back on it. This time he correctly times the water and doesn't get sprayed, though he is too busy concentrating on the water that he doesn't notice a nun-chuck that swings at his feet until it is too late and he falls flat on his face. "Forty-two seconds!" He hears the commander call out and he pushes himself back up and continues through the course, tripping and falling, jumping and rolling, dodging and swinging. He finally falls panting near Estrada's feet. The commander looks at him with a frown. "Monday you work on the same course again. It took you two hundred and thirty-nine seconds to get through." He snorts. "Plus penalties for falling off the platform or on your face, you took three hundred seconds." He gives him an irritated look before putting his pocket watch back away in his feathers and sliding over to Lucky's course.

"Seriously? This was my first try!" Pedro pants and slowly picks himself off of the floor with a small groan. "I'm sooo going to feel this tomorrow." He murmurs as he waddles back over to the course tiredly. He figures he should give it another go since he is no longer being rushed and can take his time with it. Going his own patient time, he completes the course again with minor mistakes in four hundred and sixty-three seconds. He wonders silently why he should have to do such a course in under ninety-five seconds. Pedro looks over at the door as he sees Bob come in. Bob has been on yellow level for a while now and Pedro wonders if it isn't about time that Bob is switched up to the 'slightly' harder blue level. Apparently, Commander Estrada was thinking the exact same thing and gives one last order to Lucky before sliding over to Bob and motioning towards the blue level.

Pedro watches them and stretches some. He is already sore from all of this. "Agent Mateo! Did I tell you that you could stop training?! Get your tail back on that thing and practice it until you can do it blinded!" Estrada then shouts over his shoulder at him.

"Yes, sir." Pedro salutes with a small sigh and a glance towards Bob. Bob gives him an understanding look back with a 'good luck' flipper-motion. Pedro gets back into the yellow course.

* * *

Adriana frowns and looks at the clock. "What the kipper is taking him so long?" She snorts. Typically Pedro has been home by around four-thirty in the afternoon. It is nearly six and he _still_ has not arrived home yet. She knows that if he did get out of training at the usual time and went to the store to get the things she wrote down on the list, that he still should have been back by now. Impatiently, she waddles to the kitchen and fixes herself a bowl of the remaining rainbow sherbet ice cream and takes it to the living room with her.

She has nearly finished the bowl when Pedro finally, exhausted and sore, opens the door and waddles inside. "Took you long enough." Adriana snorts and looks at him. "What took you so long? And did you get those groceries."

Pedro looks at her and then face-flippers. "Sorry, I completely forgot about those…" He says. "Can they wait until later?" He then asks quieter.

Adriana doesn't even look at him as she finishes her bowl. "No…" She says.

"Alright…" Pedro sighs some and gets his car keys. "I'll be back in a little bit…" He then waddles kind of slowly back out of the house and out to his car. He opens the door and sits in the driver's seat with a small, slightly pained grimace. He feels sore from head to toe from this obstacle course training today and wouldn't mind to just crash in bed and not move again, ever. He drives and parks at the store where he hauls his sore self out of the car and almost limps inside.

A penguin at the counter nods to him as he waddles inside. "Good evening, señor." He says.

"Yeah...You, too..." Pedro says, forcing a small smile as he thinks that so far this evening doesn't feel too good to him. He grabs a small shopping basket and then slides first to the medicines aisle where he gets a bottle of pain relievers for him to take some of when he has returned home. He has a feeling that he is really going to need these especially tomorrow when the soreness has completely set in. He then slides over to the aisle with the sauces and gets a few different brands of hot sauce, since he doesn't exactly know what type Adriana is wanting. "Hopefully one of these is right..." He mutters, looking at them. They all look pretty spicy to him; spicier than he typically uses on anything.

Pedro then slowly waddles to another aisle where he gets some jalapeños and pickles. "What else did she want?" He murmurs as he pulls out the list again and looks at it. "Oh right, that rainbow ice cream...Does it have to be rainbow, though?" He mutters a bit curiously and shrugs some, which he kind of regrets right afterwards and makes a small face. He then waddles to the frozen section of the store and gets two large containers of sherbet ice cream. "Maybe that'll keep her for a few days..." He sighs and then slides with the groceries back up to the counter.

The cashier rings up the groceries with a slightly curious look. "Craving wife?" He asks as he scans the pickles.

"Craving fiancée, sí." He says and nods.

"Has she started the mood swings yet?" The cashier asks with an understanding smile.

Pedro shakes his head. "Not that I've noticed..." He says as he gets the bags.

"Well, good luck when she does, señor...You'll probably need it." He says and then waves a little at him. "And have a good night."

"Uh...Yeah, you too." He replies with a slightly confused look and heads out with the groceries. "Mood swings?" He mutters again to himself as he pops the trunk of the car and sticks the items in it. He tries to imagine Adriana being mood swingy...He has a hard time imaging her being anything but her typical grumpy, sassy self. He then shrugs a bit and gets into his car. "Maybe she won't get moody at all." He says. He shuts the green door of his car and, after backing from the parking place, starts driving back towards his home. He soon arrives back there and stops the car. He gets the groceries from the back of the car and waddles inside.

"FINALY!" Adriana exclaims and nearly tackles him as he waddles into the house.

"Agh!" He exclaims in response and he almost loses his balance and drops the groceries, but he manages to keep from doing either. "Ehm...Did you miss me or something?" He asks, curiously looking at her as she hugs him tightly.

Adriana shakes her head. "No...But I missed this!" She says, getting the bag with the ice cream and taking off to the kitchen.

Pedro just stands there for a moment and tries to make sense of this all. He soon gives up on it and shrugs and follows Adriana into the kitchen. He watches as she gets an ice cream container open and starts scooping it into a bowl. Adriana after that puts some of the hot sauce on the ice cream, which Pedro gives a rather disgusted face at. "Adriana...Why are you ruining your ice cream?" He asks.

"It's not ruined." Adriana says with a completely serious face as she starts on it. "It's just right."

"If you say so..." He replies, thinking that he has now lost any thought of appetite for now. He tries to get his mind from Adriana's dessert and starts to put away the other groceries. He gets out the pain killers and makes a cup of water with which he takes the pills. "Anyway, I'm going to go rest some, just in case you need me for something." He says.

Adriana looks at him mid-bite. "Why? Are you tired?"

"Nooooo...Not at all!" He sarcastically replies, rolling his eyes. "Yes, I am. Your father decided to have me do a new and harder course all day. I am flipping sore all over. So, unless you need me to do anything further, I'm taking a nap." He says before sliding to the bedroom.

She watches him go and takes another bite of the ice cream. "Well...Someone is grumpy..." She mutters.

* * *

_Translations:_

_*Cena de Navidad — Christmas dinner_


	3. The Name Game

**A.N. ~ And here is chapter 3! Happy mid-term exam times everyone XD And please enjoy the chapter!**

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**Chapter 3: The Name Game**

Pedro falls asleep almost as soon as his head hits his pillow. Adriana soon finishes her bowl of ice cream and hot sauce and puts the bowl and spoon away in the sink. She then waddles to the bedroom and sees him sleeping. She watches him for a moment. 'Maybe he will wake up in a better mood...' She thinks and then waddles back to the kitchen. She guesses that she could make dinner now and Pedro could have some when he wakes up.

Adriana opens the refrigerator and ponders about what she will cook. She grabs some fish and tortillas and decides to make fish taquitos with some spicy salsa to dip it in. She begins to cook it and still thinks about the different things that she plans on asking Pedro about at dinner; their wedding and possible names for their chick. She eventually finishes cooking the taquitos and making the salsa and puts them out on two plates at the table with small dipping bowls out beside the plates. Adriana then slides to the bedroom and looks at Pedro; he still is asleep, though, and she thinks that he has napped long enough. "Pedro!" She shakes his shoulder.

"I'm sleeping...Go away…" Pedro mutters, not even opening his eyes, and turns over.

"Too bad." Adriana snorts and yanks the covers off of him. "Dinner is ready; now get up before it gets cold." Pedro just snores as he has already fallen back asleep. "PEDRO!" She then shouts.

"Ah!" He sits bolt upright and looks at Adriana with a slight glare. "Can't I just sleep through dinner tonight?" He yawns.

Adriana shakes her head. "No." She says and grabs his flipper. "Dinner is now, and now you're coming to eat it."

Pedro yawns and starts to get up. "Fine…" He rubs his eyes some with his flippers and crawls out from the bed. Adriana nods with a small snort and follows him to the kitchen. "Taquitos?" He yawns.

"Yep, and salsa." She replies as she takes a seat. "And don't you dare fall asleep on it like you did last night." She says with a slightly threatening undertone.

"I'll try to not…No promises, though…" He yawns as he starts on his taquitos and salsa. "Holy-!" He exclaims as he tries and discovers just how spicy the salsa is. He starts downing his water quickly; now fully awake. He finishes his water with his mouth still on fire. "What the atún is in that?! Lava?!" He runs over to the faucet, turns it on all the way and puts his beak under it.

Adriana watches this and laughs hard. "Too hot for you, Pedrrrro?" She asks.

Pedro shoots her a glare as he continues to try to extinguish the salsa fire in his mouth. After a few more minutes he comes back to the table with water dripping from his wet face and head. "I think I know how dragónes* feel now…" He mutters and pushes the salsa away from himself towards Adriana. "I think you can have the rest of this…"

Adriana shrugs and gets the salsa bowl. "That's alright with me." She says as she dips her taquitos in the 'fire' salsa.

Pedro instead eats his without salsa and watches her. "How the kipper can you stand that?" He asks.

"I don't know." She shrugs. "Maybe ask our future demonio who is making me crave spicy stuff and rainbow sherbet." She says.

"But, this is like..._Beyond_ spicy...This could be used to like...Melt cell bars back at the base!" He exclaims.

Adriana shrugs. "Maybe it can, I'll keep that in mind next time I'm in a cell." She says and finishes her taquitos. She gets up and fixes herself another plate of them to eat with Pedro's salsa. "Speaking of our little diablo, do you have any reasonable naming suggestions?" She asks as she sits back down and looks at him.

Pedro quietly thinks this over for a moment. "Chico* or chica* name first?" He asks.

"Eh...Girl." She says as she starts on her second plate.

"Mmm…" He thinks about it. "Any certain letter you want?" He asks.

Adriana thinks. "Doesn't really matter...But nada that means like 'princess' or 'queen' or you know, that annoying stuff." She says.

Pedro nods some and thinks. "Juana?" He suggests.

"Juana?" Adriana thinks for a moment and shakes her head. "No, that sounds too much like iguana…"

"Okay then...Umm….Mercedes?" He then suggests, taking a bite of his second taquito.

"That's a car brand!"

"Oh...Right…" Pedro thinks. "Tomasa?"

Adriana raises a nonexistent eyebrow. "I don't think we're having twins...We better _not_ be having twins…" She says.

"Sancha?" He says.

"I don't think we'll be raising a saint, Pedro, so no." Adriana sighs and finishes her second plate.

Pedro thinks hard. "Are there any names you have thought of for girls? Any ideas?"

Adriana thinks now. "Maybe something darker and mysterious...Violent…"

"Violeta?" Adriana looks at him weirdly and he just shrugs. "What? It sounds a bit like violent…"

Adriana rolls her eyes. "I was thinking something more like Ernesta, or Maribel, or Maritza, or Valencia." She says.

Pedro thinks some. "I guess of those Maribel sounds the best...Though possibly more as of a middle name?"

"Oh? Then what first name?"

"Novia?"

Adriana just looks at him. "Hey, hey, you, you, no we aren't naming her 'girlfriend.'" She replies annoyedly.

Pedro shrugs. "Okay...Maybe Sofia? That means wisdom or something I think…"

'Which she won't have any of if she takes after you...' Adriana thinks and then shakes her head. "No…"

"...Rebeca? That means 'ensnarer.'" He says.

Adriana thinks this one over longer. "Rebeca Maribel Estrada Mateo?...That's alright I guess...Now, we think of male names."

Pedro nods and thinks on this. "Che?"

"No...That's too short." She replies as she gets up and opens the freezer part of the refrigerator and takes out the tub of ice cream. "By the way, you want some, too?" She asks as she gets a bowl.

"Eh, sure, why not." He replies and thinks for another boy name. "Jorge?"

Adriana fixes two bowls of ice cream. "No." She says shortly.

Pedro thinks. "Bobby?"

"Heck no." She replies, bringing the bowls to the table. "That's a terrible name!"

"But my friend is named it!"

"Exactly my point! So, no Bobbys or Bobs or Roberts, alright?!" She growls.

Pedro raises a nonexistent eyebrow and looks at her. 'Would this be a mood swing or is she just really passionately against the name Bobby?' He silently wonders to himself and then shrugs. "Pedro Jr ?" He then suggests.

"Nope." Adriana says. "One Pedrrrrrro is enough."

"Alright…" He replies sounding just a bit disappointed. He thinks hard on a name. "Juarez? I know that's typically a last name, I mean, it was the maiden name of mi madre*..." He says.

Adriana takes a bite of her ice cream. "I kinda figured that since it is the second to last name on your license, Pedro." She says, but then thinks. "You know...Juarez is an alright name." She says. "But what middle name?"

"Juarez Bobby Estrada Mateo?" Pedro asks.

"NO." Adriana growls. "No child of mine is having the name Bob in any form, okay?! _NO_ _BOBBY_!"

Pedro makes a calm down motion with his flippers. "Okay, okay, I was just kidding, Kuzco…" He mutters. "So, what's your ideas for a middle name?"

"Iago?" She says with a shrug.

Pedro looks at her. "Why Iago?" He asks.

Adriana shrugs. "He was my favorite character in Othello." She says. "Or how about Remarque?"

"But that's German! We're Hispanic!" Pedro interjects.

Adriana shrugs again. "My grandmother was German." She says. "She was…"

"The King half of your padre?" He finishes and Adriana nods. 'Your abuelo* must have been very brave...To have married a woman so much larger than himself...' He thinks. "I guess I'm fine with that...So, Juarez Remarque Estrada Mateo then if it is a boy, or Rebeca Maribel Estrada Mateo if it is a chica?" He says.

Adriana nods. "I'm fine with those." She says and Pedro nods in agreement. "So, now, on to planning our wedding…"

"We still need to plan that, too?" He asks, mid-bite. "Hasn't this name planning stuff been enough for tonight?" He asks.

"Well, when else are we going to plan it? Tomorrow you'll be busy with the window!" She says as she finishes her bowl of ice cream.

Pedro shrugs. "Well, that shouldn't take all day." He says, "No more than a couple hours at most I'd guess. I mean, I'm pretty sure anyone can replace a window."

Adriana nods a bit and wipes her beak with a napkin in thought. "Oh! And I forgot to tell you, but your sister called while you were at the base."

"What did she want?" He asks curiously as he takes another bite.

"How am I supposed to know?" Adriana says. "I just told her I'd tell you that she called."

Pedro looks at her for a moment and then takes out his cell phone and dials his sister's phone number. "Eh*! Guadeloupe, it's Pedro." He says on the phone.

"It's about time you called me back, Pedro!" Guadeloupe replies on the phone.

"Yeah, ehm, sorry about that, I was busy at training." He says. "And then I took a nap and Adriana just told me you called over dinner." He says. Adriana curiously listens to him as she gets both of their sets of dishes to start cleaning them in the sink.

His sister nods some. "So your girlfriend said." She says. "But anyway, I was wondering if you could possibly watch your nieces this weekend." Guadeloupe says. "Nataniel and I are going out of town with a few of his amigos…" She says.

Pedro looks at Adriana and thinks this over. "Sure! We'd love to watch the girls!" He says.

Adriana looks over at him surprised with an open beak. "What?! What girls?!"

He softly puts his beak over his phone for a moment. "My two nieces, Pilar and Yzel." He says. "It'll give you good practice I think." He says and uncovers the phone again. "So, when will they be coming over?" He asks.

"How does tomorrow night sound?" Guadeloupe says. "And we'll come pick them up Monday morning?"

Pedro nods. "That sounds muy bueno." He says. "We will make sure we've got things ready for them. Buenas noches, hermana*." He says.

Guadeloupe nods with a smile. "Buenas noches, brother." She says and hangs up. Pedro puts his phone away and looks at Adriana.

She is glaring back at him. "And you didn't ask me about how I felt about us watching them?!" She growls.

Pedro shrugs. "You're going to soon be their aunt. You're going to be the madre of their cousin. You need some time around chicks to start getting adjusted." He says.

Adriana just growls. "And exactly how old are these two girls?" She then asks.

"Pilar is five, Yzel is one." He says.

"But that's practically a hatchling!" She exclaims.

Pedro looks at her. "Exactly why they will be good practice for you." He says.

Adriana sighs irritably. "Some days you really make me hate you, you know that, Copper?" She rubs her flipper over her face.

Pedro gets up and pats her on her shoulder. "You'll do fine." He says and kisses her on her cheek. "They're good girls." Adriana just groans with her head on her flippers on the table. Pedro rubs her back. "How about we go on to bed?" He asks. "We have most of tomorrow until they come over and no doubt part of their stay they will want to go visit their cousin Alejandro." He says.

"Sure…" She sighs and gets up. She pushes past Pedro and waddles to their room and shuts the door behind her right in front of Pedro.

"Hey! I need to go to bed, too!" He exclaims, knocking on the door.

Adriana lies down on the bed. "But, I am mad at you, so not in here you won't. Go sleep with your pet." She yawns.

Pedro just looks at the door before grumbling going to the other bedroom and looking at the bed. "Well...I guess I need to move Flix anyway if the girls will have to be staying in here…" He mutters.

Flix watches him waddle into the room and flicks his tongue. 'Move me? Already?' He thinks. 'Can I get a moussssssse first?'

Pedro gets a mouse and drops it into the terrarium. "Well, Flix, looks like it's time for you to move to the living room. My sombrinas* are coming to stay the weekend. They'll need your room to stay in." He says as he lifts the terrarium and starts carrying it towards the living room.

'Whatever...You sssssstill owe me one vipressssss." Flix thinks as he burrows down into the 'ground' of his terrarium.

Pedro sits the cage on the floor for a moment while he cleans off the top of his bookshelf in the living room. He then lifts the cage again and places it there. "There, you're in your new location." He yawns and then starts back to the extra room that is now snake-free. He flops down upon the bed and falls almost instantly asleep.

* * *

_Translations:_

_*Dragónes - dragons_

_*Chico - boy_

_*Chica - girl_

_*Madre - mother_

_*Abuelo - grandfather_

_*Eh! - Hey!_

_*Hermana - sister_

_*Sombrinas - nieces_


	4. A Trip to the Vet

**A.N.— Here's the next chapter! Please enjoy! :D**

* * *

**Chapter 4: A Trip to the Vet**

The next day Pedro wakes to see his snake Flix sitting on the pillow beside him. "What the—What are you doing out of your cage?" He mutters with a yawn. Flix just flicks his tongue at him and slithers some under the covers, but still lays his head back on the pillow beside Pedro, mimicking him. He is liking being out of his cage very much. "Very funny, but you have to go back to your cage." He yawns and gets up. Flix slithers completely under the covers now. "Flix...Come on, boy, don't play this now…" He yawns as he sticks his head under the covers after the reptile. He manages to snag the snake's tail and pull him back up towards him. "Back to your house you go." He mutters as he carries the snake back out of the guest room and into the living room. Flix wiggles and flicks his tongue with an annoyed look.

"What? Don't look at me like that." Pedro says as he sees the snake. "I just fed you yesterday, you shouldn't still be hungry." He says and pets him.

'Right, I'm not hungry, but if I had legssss like you and could buy you a sssssnake transssslation book, I flipping would, dude!' The snake hisses a bit. 'You don't get the point! It'sssss that time of year!' He thrashes around a little in Pedro's flippers.

Pedro looks at him curiously. "I don't understand, Flix...What's wrong?" He pets the snake with a little bit of worry. Flix just hisses and snaps at him. Worriedly, Pedro softly sits Flix in the cage, shuts it, and slides to the bedroom. He shakes Adriana's shoulder quickly and a little roughly.

Adriana wakes with a glare at him. "What?" She snaps.

"Flix is acting funny!" He exclaims worriedly.

"Who?" She yawns with a weird look as she doesn't really care and would much rather be sleeping.

Pedro looks at her. "Flix! My snake! He _snapped_ at me!" He exclaims with wide eyes. "He _never_ snaps at me!"

Adriana just looks at him. "Maybe you're on his last nerve, too?" She stretches.

"I'm being serious, Adriana!"

"As am I." She gives him a certain look. "But, I guess while you work on the window, that I can take him to the vet." She mutters.

Pedro smiles some. "Would you? Por favor?" He then hugs her tightly. "Gracias."

Adriana rolls her eyes. "Sure, whatever." She says and pushes him away and gets out of bed. She is hungry but doesn't want Pedro to attempt to make breakfast or cereal. She thinks she could be fine not seeing a box of cereal for at least a month, maybe a year even. Pedro follows her to the kitchen and glances worriedly at his pet snake's cage as they pass by the living room. Adriana waddles to a cabinet and gets out materials to make pancakes and begins to make those. Pedro sits down at the table, still giving worried looks at his pet snake. He hopes that Flix hasn't caught some grave, deadly snake disease or something.

Adriana glances over at him as she makes pancakes. "You can stop with the sad puppy look, babe; it isn't helping anything." She puts the pancakes on the plates and brings them over to the table and gives him a look. "Seriously, though, quit the pout, por favor."

Pedro looks and her and nods a little. "Right...Sorry..." He says and silently drizzles syrup over his breakfast. He silently eats it and still glances over worriedly at his pet.

"You're still doing it." Adriana snorts and rolls her eyes as she sits down with her plate of pancakes. She pours some hot sauce over hers and begins on them and Pedro's worried look shifts instead to one of disgust as he sees her doing so.

"Hot sauce on pancakes, Adriana?" He says, looking at her.

She shrugs and takes another bite. "Seems alright to be." She says.

Pedro sighs some and silently eats his pancakes and finishes his coffee. He sees his fiancée drink some coffee, too. "Are you sure that you're suppose to be drinking that? I heard it's bad for the chick..."

"Eh, I'm sure it's fine." She shrugs again, not really caring. If the egg ends up as a miscarriage, it wouldn't bother her much at all, if anything she thinks that she would be happy if it did so. "Now, if you are done eating, go start on that window." She says with a slight growl. "We wouldn't want one of your nieces to be escaping now, would we?"

Pedro just looks at her for a moment. He isn't exactly sure what Adriana means by his nieces escaping, nor why they would try to escape. But, he finally nods and gets up with his plate and cup and drops them off at the sink for washing later. "I need to go run by Gregorio's shop and get the things for the window." He says with a small smile. "But, feel free to continue to use my credit card when you go to the vet with Flix; I should have enough cash on me to get the materials with."

Adriana nods some. "Fine. I guess call me if you do end up needing your card and I'll bring it by." She says as she finishes her breakfast and coffee. "And take this to the sink, will you?" Pedro nods and gets the plate and cup. He brings them over to the sink also. Adriana then gets up from the table. "Oh...And will you need the car, or can I take it?" She asks and looks at him.

"No, you take it." He says and shakes his head. He waddles over to the door and grabs the keys and tosses them to her and she catches them. "Everything I need to get I can carry, and I can always do extra trips if I need to. You've got to go farther and you're pregnant." He says.

"Alright." She says and looks at the large terrarium. "Does that have a smaller, more travel-sized cage?" She asks.

Pedro looks at it and nods. "Uhh, yeah...I think it might be in the attic…" He murmurs thoughtfully and slides to the hall. He jumps up and gets the string and pulls down the attic's door and ladder and climbs up it. He flips on the light and fully enters the attic and looks around. It is pretty empty with only a few 'treasures' from some of his missions with his friend Bob. Pedro looks thoughtfully around before sliding over to a stack of boxes and moving them over. He finds a much smaller, tan-colored travel carrier for his snake and goes back over to the ladder. He flips the lights back off and climbs down. "Here, have a carrier." He says, handing it to Adriana so that he can close the attic again.

"Gracias." She says and brings it over to the cage. She looks in and rather softly takes the snake out from the terrarium. Flix just looks at her and flicks his tongue as she plops him into the travel carrier. She then closes it and picks it up and waddles out the door with him. She waddles out to the green Camaro and unlocks it and gets in. She sets the carrier in the passenger seat and buckles it into the seat and starts the car and backs out from the driveway. Adriana glances over at the snake-carrier. She doesn't actually know where the vet is that Pedro wants her to take his pet to. "Well...What now?" She murmurs. She doesn't really want to call Pedro and ask for him to tell her where the vet is, but she doesn't really want to stop and ask for directions either. If anything, she wouldn't mind stopping for a snow-cone, more specifically a rainbow snow-cone. But, she still drives along the road and just hopes that maybe she will see a sign for it soon enough.

Soon she drives into town and looks around. There do not appear to be any veterinarians around in this area and she sighs. "I guess I should call Pedrrrro…" She murmurs to herself and gets out her phone. She glances at her phone and dials his number. "He—Oh…" She says as she just gets voicemail. "Well, flipping fishsticks…" She mutters and then flips through her contacts list on her phone. Strangely she has Pedro's friend's number in it. She doesn't remember adding his number to it though. Sighing, she calls Pedro's friend Bob, though it really is the last thing that she would like to do.

"Hello? Who is this?" Answered Bob Garrison, sounding by curious and obviously not recognizing Adriana's number.

"Adriana." She says. "And if I had any other choice, I would not have called _you_, just to make sure you understand..." She grumbles.

Bob frowns and is tempted to hang up. "Why? Is there something wring with Pedro?" He asks with just an inkling of worry in his voice.

"No, he's fine. He's just flipping busy with replacing a window and won't answer his phone." Adriana slightly growls. "But, I'm supposed to be taking his snake to the vet because apparently he was acting funny, but...I don't know where one is at..." She says.

"You mean Flix?" Bob replies and thinks some. He rubs under his beak as he considers whether or not he really wants to tell this criminal anything. "How has he been acting?"

Adriana shrugs. "I don't know! Pedro just said he was hissing and snapped at him!" She says.

Bob listens and nods some. "Alright, well, you drive along that road straight from Ro's house until you come to a town—"

"Already there." She interrupts him.

"Alright...Then you should be looking for a small building with a green door and a sign saying something like 'Doctor Montoya'..." He says.

"You mean like la Clínica Veterinaria del Doctor Montoya*?" She asks as she sees it.

Bob nods. "Yeah, that sounds right." He says.

Adriana nods and pulls into a parking spot. "Thanks...But don't think this will become common." She says.

"Of course not." He says. "I only stayed talking to you for Pedro's snake."

"Right, and I only called you for the same reason. Adios." She snorts and hangs up. She looks at the snake. "And there had better be something deathly wrong with you for what I just went through because of you, if not I will make sure there is..." She growls and unbuckles the snake carrier and gets out of the car.

Flix curls up in the far bottom left corner nervously. He doesn't like the vet, and this female his owner has shacked up with is sounding pretty threatening to him. Adriana carries him inside and waddles up to the penguin at a counter. She fakes a smile. "Hello, I have here a Mr. Flix who has been acting weirdly. My fiancé thought that he should be taken for a visit." She says.

The penguin nods and gets a clipboard and hands it to her. "Please fill this out and bring it back when you are finished." She says.

Adriana nods and takes the clipboard. She waddles with it and Flix to a seat and sits down. She fills out the sheet boredly and looks at Flix. "Well flounder...I don't know how old you are..." She grumbles.

Flix flicks his tongue out at her and through the bars of the front of the carrier. "Try ssssssssix." He hisses.

"Guess I had better try calling Pedro again..." She tries to call Pedro but yet again only gets voicemail. She glares at her phone for a moment before just writing 'No sé*' in the blank. She continues through the sheet filling it out and when finished she gets up with it and brings it to the counter penguin. The counter penguin takes it with a nod and Adriana goes and sits back down. Boredly, she plays with the latch of Flix's carrier. She sees some one waddle in with a pet hamster and hears Flix stir inside of the carrier. She bites her tongue some. 'Gah, why does it have to be _so_ _hard_ to be _good_?' She thinks as she thinks it would be incredibly amusing to let Flix loose and watch him chase around this other chick's hamster. She hopes this Dr. Montoya will hurry up so that she won't be so tempted to go through with her thought.

* * *

Once Adriana had left the house, Pedro pulled out a measuring tape and began to measure the space that the broken window was occupying. He jots down the measurement on a sheet of paper and then takes a different measurement and writes it down as well. He then slides out the door in the opposite direction that Adriana had gone in. He slides a much shorter distance to another town, which also has a vet's office he notices as he slides past it to Gregorio's Tools and Materials shop.

Gregorio looks up from an inventory book and smiles at Pedro. "Ah, Pedro, buenos días!" He greets as he puts the book aside. "What can I get for you today?" He asks.

Pedro smiles some at him. "I need a new window with these dimensions. My nephew broke the last one." He says with a small laugh.

"Again?! Maybe I should just start saving these for next time." He laughs as he checks a sheet about windows. He then slides into the back of the store with the paper and comes back with a window. "One like this, verdad?"

Pedro looks over the window and nods. "Sí, perfecto." He says. "Okay, now maybe some sealant?" He asks.

Gregorio reaches under the counter and sits a can of sealant on the counter. "Will that be all, Pedro?" He asks.

"Ehhh, yeah, think so." He says and nods. He goes to take out his phone to text Adriana and see how it is going with the vet, but notices that he doesn't have his phone on him. He frowns a bit with that, but then shrugs some. "So, cuánto te debo*?" He asks.

"Ahh..." Gregorio scans the window and the sealant. He tells Pedro the price and he nods and pays. "Gracias, have a good day."

"You, too, Gregorio." He says as he grabs up the window and sealing and exits the shop with them. He begins the waddle home with the relatively heavy glass window. He hopes that everything is going alright for Adriana and Flix at the vet.

* * *

_Translations:_

_*La Clínica Veterinaria del Doctor Montoya — the veterinary clinic of Dr. Montoya_

_*Cuánto te debo? — How much do I owe you?_


	5. Dr Montoya and Ramona

**A.N.— Here is the next one! Please enjoy! **

* * *

**Chapter 5: Dr. Montoya and Ramona**

"Flix the snake?" A vet-tech says as he opens a door and sticks his head through. Adriana nods and gets up with Flix's carrier and waddles over to him. The penguin nods and leads Adriana to another smaller room. "Sit him there, por favor, señorita." He says and motions to the small padded table. "Dr. Montoya will be with you shortly." He says and then waddles out, shutting the door behind him.

Adriana sits Flix's carrier on the table and takes a seat in one of the two waiting chairs. She looks at the snake. "If we are just here because you were irritated at Pedro…" She mutters somewhat crossly. "Firstly, I understand that...Secondly, I've been around Pedro too long...I'm flipping talking to a snake!" Adriana sighs and rubs her face. She then thinks about how later she will have to deal with Pedro's nieces...And by default, they will soon enough be _her_ nieces, too. That irritating chick, too, that broke the window, will be her nephew. She groans as she realizes all the children she will have to deal with being around after marrying Pedro. Those three plus this one that was going to be _hers_.

The door then opens as a penguin with yellow eyes and a yellow-ish head enters the room. "Buenas tardes, señorita, I am Dr. Montoya and I will be your pet's doctor today." He says with a smile. He takes a seat in a swivel chair and looks at a clipboard. "So, who do we have here today?"

"My fiancés snake, Flix." She replies.

Dr. Montoya nods and softly gets the snake out of the carrier. "And what is wrong with Sr. Flix today?"

Adriana shrugs. "According to Pedro, he is acting strangely." She says.

"Would this be Pedro is acting strange, or the snake, miss?" He asks, just making sure that he is correctly understanding her.

"The snake." She retorts and tries her hardest to not roll her eyes. "Apparently Flix snapped at Pedro which is not something he normally does. I figured maybe Pedro was just on his nerves." She shrugs.

Montoya nods and softly feels along Flix. He gets his stethoscope and listens to his heart and lungs. "Now...Do you know how old he is? The snake?"

Adriana shakes her head. "No, sorry, I don't. I could try calling Pedro again and see if he knows if you need me to." She says, looking at the vet.

The vet opens Flix's mouth and looks in it. He looks at his fangs and his gums. "I'm guessing from his size that he is about five...But, yes, if you could get his actual age from him, please do." He says.

"Okay." She says and gets out her phone. She texts Pedro that he better reply or else and asks about Flix's age. She very soon gets a reply of '_Seis_*.' She nods and looks at the veterinarian again. "Pedro says he is six years old." She says.

"Mmm…" Montoya says and nods. He lifts Flix and examines his scales. When he has finished examining him, he softly sits him back into the carrier. "Does Sr. Flix have like a girlfriend or something?" He asks, looking at Adriana.

Adriana shakes her head. "I don't think so...Pedro only has one snake as far as I know..." She says.

Dr. Montoya nods and looks at Flix again. "Then, I would say that Flix is experiencing some lonely frustration. Also, it would appear that he is nearly ready to start molting." He says. "I can't really prescribe anything for either problema. I can suggest maybe getting him an amiga* if you'd like. It could make him happier." He says and smiles at Adriana.

"Alright..." She says and nods some. "Well, thanks for checking him over." She says and gets up.

"My pleasure." The veterinarian says as he gets up with a nod and grabs his clipboard once again. "And I apologize that I could not have been more of a help." He says and then waddles out.

Adriana takes the moment after the vet has left to shiver some. "Ugh, yuck." She mutters at having to be nice. She looks at Flix. "And you are a lucky snake. I am seriously this close giving you a better reason to be here." She snorts, locking and grabbing the carrier and waddling out. She stops by the receptionist who she pays and gives a forced smile and waddles out to Pedro's Camaro. Once again she buckles Flix into the passenger seat. She takes out her phone and begins to text Pedro. '_According to the doctor, your snake wants a novia and is about to start molting._'

Pedro sends her a quick text back. '_Does that mean that I may get another snake!?_'

'_I couldn't care less._' She replies, rolling her eyes and putting her phone away and then she backs out from the parking spot. As long as Pedro isn't going to suddenly think that she is going to take care of his pets, she doesn't care about them. Now, if he expects her to take care of it...That might be a different story and Flix probably would have to deal with being single.

Adriana drives towards the house and after a little while, pulls up and parks. She wonders if Pedro has finished with replacing that window yet. She gets Flix and gets out. She sees the old window leaning against the outside of the house, but doesn't see Pedro nor the new window yet. Frowning, she enters the house and puts the snake back into his enclosure. "Pedrrrrrrrro?" She asks as she looks around for him. She still doesn't see him anywhere, so she waddles to the kitchen and makes herself a large bowl of rainbow sherbet and sits with it at the table.

After a while, Pedro comes in with a small box with holes and Adriana looks at him curiously. "What's that?" She asks, taking a bite of her second bowl of ice cream.

Pedro smiles and takes the snake out from it. "A friend for Flix!" He says excitedly and brings the snake over to her.

"Okay...And what's this one's name to be?" She asks, looking at the green and white snake. The snake looks back at her and blinks.

"Well...I thought you should name her..." He says with a smile. "I mean, if you don't care, I can name her..."

"Oh..." Adriana says, still looking at the snake. "Can I–?" She says and Pedro nods and hands the snake to her. She looks at and pets her. "Maybe Ramona?" She suggests after a few moments.

Pedro looks at her curiously. "Why Ramona?" He asks.

Adriana shrugs. "My madre's name was Ramona and she had had a pet snake when I was little." She says and softly hands the snake back to Pedro and he gets her back and for now places her back into the box.

"Oh?" He says now very curious. "What was its name?"

"I think it was Vulcan." She says with a small, genuine smile. Pedro notices the realness of her smile and nods some. "He was a mostly red milk snake."

"That's cool." He smiles at her. "And your mother?" He asks softly.

Adriana thinks on this some. "She was...Nice, caring, brave...Patient...Brilliant. She home-schooled me up until I was eight..." She says and then frowns.

Pedro looks at her softly. "What happened?" He asks.

"No..." She says and shakes her head. "It's nothing important. That was then, and this is now." She says, getting up. She starts to waddle towards the sink with her bowl.

"No, it bothers you still whatever it is..." He says, holding onto her flipper and making her turn towards him. "Tell me, por favor, honey."

Adriana just rolls her eyes. "It is nothing, Pedro, _drop_ it." She growls and tries to pull away, but Pedro still holds on.

"No, honey, please, tell me what's wrong." He says softly.

Adriana gets out her knife and pokes it right under his beak. "I said to _DROP IT_." She growls with a murderous gleam in her green eyes.

Pedro sees this and releases her before backing a step away. "Fine...Okay..." He sighs.

Adriana nods and re-sheathes her knife. She waddles to the sink and puts her bowl in it. "Now, how about you go finish the window so that your _new pet_ doesn't decide to escape." She snorts.

"Yeah...Sure..." Pedro replies quieter, looking at her somewhat hurt that she won't tell him what's wrong. He without another word takes Ramona to Flix's cage. He gets the green and white snake out of the box and holds her up above the terrarium. "Okay, Flix, meet Ramona." He says with a small smile as he softly sits her in the cage.

Flix looks at Ramona and flicks his tongue as a greeting to her. He then looks at Pedro. "Ssssssshe will do." He says and 'smiles.' He looks at Ramona again who flicks her tongue back out at him.

Pedro smiles and watches his two snakes before going over to the wall and getting the new window which had been leaning against the wall there. He starts to put it in where the broken window had been. This was a harder job than trying to get the old window out for him as the window is not much smaller than him and is heavy. Adriana after a little while comes and sits on the couch, silently watching him as he puts the window in. He doesn't even notice her until the window nearly falls out of place and onto him and he hears her start laughing. This causes him therefore to jump in surprise and he nearly drops the window again. "Jeez, woman...You've got to stop doing that." He sighs. "You're nearly as bad as Bobby about doing that."

Adriana shoots a glare at him. "I am _nothing_ like that idiota." She snorts.

"No, you're right, he's nice and you're an evil scheming witch..." He murmurs to himself as he starts to put the window into place again.

"What was that, Pedro?" She asks as she had heard him mutter something, but hadn't been able to tell what exactly it had been.

Pedro fakes a smile to her. "Nothing, dear, I was only muttering about how you're much more beautiful than he is." He gets the window to finally stay.

Adriana looks at him with a raised nonexistent eyebrow and then shrugs. "Okay." She says as she leans back into the couch. She looks up at the clock and then at Pedro again. "So...How much longer until the niñas* come?"

"Eh, I'd guess dos* to tres* hours?" He shrugs as he now works on making sure that the window is nice and stably sealed.

Adriana nods some and thinks. "You do have an extra set of sheets and stuff for that guest bed, verdad?" She asks, thinking about how she doubts Pedro really has thought of that bed being all dusty from being unused for so long.

Pedro thinks as he finishes with the window. "Hall closet maybe, or the hall bathroom cabinets? If there aren't any in either place, then I guess we just need to wash these and put them on it again..." He shrugs and steps down from the small stepladder.

"But, Copper! There wouldn't be enough time for it all that to wash and dry before then! Have you _seen_ the size of your washer and dryer?!" She exclaims. "No, if there aren't any we will be running to the store for another set." She says, shaking her head.

"Whichever." He shrugs. "But, seeing as how I'm done with this, I can work on that now. You can go rest or something." He suggests.

Adriana thinks and then nods. "I think I might...Make sure I'm up an hour before they get here, though, so that I can make dinner..." She says.

Pedro shrugs again. "Or I could order pizza and you could continue to sleep. Guadelupe will most likely bring Yzel some baby food, and I am sure I can handle that just fine." He says with a small smile. "I mean, you've been up and going all day because of me and they'll most likely stress you out enough by themselves." He says as he starts to herd her towards the bedroom.

"But..." She tries to argue, but then just shrugs. "Alright, whatever." She says and enters the bedroom.

Pedro watches her lie down with a smile and covers her up. "Sleep well, Adriana." He says softly. 'And maybe wake up in a better mood, please.' He thinks behind that. He gives her a small kiss on her cheek and waddles back out of the room. Adriana herself falls asleep much faster than she had thought that she would.

* * *

_Translations:_

_*Seis — six_

_*Amiga — friend (female)_

_*Niñas — girls_

_*Dos — two_

_*Tres — three_


	6. Pilar and Yzel

**A.N.— Here's the next one! :D please enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Pilar and Yzel**

Pedro finds a change of bed clothes for the guest room and changes the sheets and pillowcases. He then brings the dusty clothes to a basket which he drops them into. He figures that they can worry about washing them later. He looks around the guest room and makes sure that there is nothing dangerous laying around. No sharp objects or anything breakable down where Pilar could possibly reach. He then gets his gun from the drawer in the living room and silently takes it to the bedroom and places it in a drawer in there. He looks softly at Adriana while he is in the room. She looks so much nicer and friendlier when she is sleeping. He still wonders about her mother and why it is so sensitive of information that he isn't allowed to know.

Pedro thinks that it probably is mentioned somewhere in Adriana's diary, but then he shakes his head. He knows better than to go reading through his almost-wife's diary. There is simply no telling what he might find in there. He pulls the covers back up onto Adriana more just for her to promptly kick them back off and turn over. Shrugging, Pedro leaves the covers alone and waddles back to the living room. He figures it would be best if he opens the door as soon as he sees them pull up so that his sister and her husband don't ring the doorbell and wake Adriana. He turns on a soccer game on the TV while he waits.

It is roughly an hour until he hears a car pull up outside of his house and he gets up and opens the door with a smile. He waddles out to the car as Guadalupe and Nataniel get out of their car. "Ah, hermana!" He says and gives her a small kiss on each of her cheeks as a greeting.

"Nice to see you, too, Pedro." She smiles back at him and kisses his cheeks back. Pedro and Nataniel just nod to each other as their greeting. "So, I heard that you now have a girl?" Guadalupe asks curiously.

Pedro nods. "Yeah, Adriana's sleeping right now, though." He says.

Guadalupe looks at him curiously as Nataniel gets the two girls from the back of the car and their things. "Oh? Isn't it a bit early for bedtime?"

"Eh." He shrugs and gets his nieces' things from his brother-in-law. "She's had a long day." He says, completely leaving out the fact that Adriana is pregnant. He thought that that is probably for the best right now since he knows how much of a gossip his older sister can be. "I had her take Flix to the vet while I was busy replacing a window Diego's niño broke." He smiles.

"Okay…" His sister replies curiously. She can tell that Pedro is keeping something a secret and she would like to know what. "And the vet is such a tiring place?"

Pedro shrugs and carries the bags inside quietly and places them in the guest room before waddling back outside to his sister and her family. Adriana hears Pedro and wakes up. She guesses that her almost-sister-in-law is here and she gets up slowly to go and at least say hi and pretend to be nice as she is sure Pedro would like that. She steps out of the room and waddles outside, too, not very long after Pedro.

Guadalupe sees her and smiles. "Hi, you must be Pedro's fiancée." She says and holds out her flipper to Adriana.

Adriana nods and shakes her flipper. "Yes, and you are his sister...Guadalupe, no?" She says with faked politeness.

"Yes…" Guadalupe says and looks at Adriana. It takes her only a moment to notice the slight look of pregnancy on Adriana and she smiles some to herself. 'So, _that_ is why Pedro is being all secretive...He is trying to hide the fact that he has already gotten her pregnant...I bet that is even the reason they're getting married…' She thinks, but she just smiles at her and pretends to not have noticed anything. "And this is my husband Nataniel." She says motioning to the taller penguin beside her.

"Hello." Adriana says and shakes his free flipper as well. She sees in his other flipper is a little chick with her feathers up in two little pigtails.

Nataniel shakes her flipper. "Hola." He simply says and hands the little chick to his brother-in-law. "This is Yzel...Pilar is somewhere…" He says to Pedro.

"Somewhere?" Pedro repeats, slightly confused. "What do you mean 'somewhere'?" He asks.

Nataniel shrugs. "She jumped from the carro* and slid off to explore. I mean, what else did you think? We packed her up in a suitcase or left her in Argentina?" He says with a small laugh, shaking his head. "Your reasoning is remarkable at moments, Pedro."

Pedro shrugs. "You could have for all I know. There's no telling with _her_." He says with a joking glance at Guadalupe.

"I heard that, Pedro!" She exclaims, and then rolls her eyes and looks at Adriana. "Boys, you know?" She laughs.

Adriana fakes a laugh, too. "Yeah, boys…" She doesn't actually get what is so funny about it though. It seems more annoying to her all this playful joking everyone is doing. She hears a noise and glances over at a tree to see another female chick peeking around the trunk. Adriana then nudges Pedro beside her and nods towards the tree. "Is that one one of them?" She whispers to him.

Pedro looks at her slightly confused. "What one?" He asks.

"That one behind the árbor*." She says.

He looks at it and catches sight of the chick as she peeks around the tree again with a quiet giggle. "Yes, that one is Pilar." He says with a nod and looks back at his older sister and her husband. "So, you will be back Monday morning?" He asks, making sure.

Guadalupe nods. "Yeah...Eh...How early do you have to go in for training?" She asks.

Pedro thinks on this for a moment. "Uhmm...No later than ocho*...So, if you could get them around siete*, siete y media* that would be gran." He smiles at them.

Guadalupe and Nataniel nod. "We can do that." She says. She smiles at little Yzel in Pedro's flipper and gets her little flipper. "Bye-bye, Yzy. Mamá and Papá have to go now. Be good, okay?"

Yzel looks at her mother and looks back her uncle Pedro. "Nononono!" She says and tries to lean back to her mother.

Guadalupe gives her a quick kiss on her little cheek. "We'll be back in a few days, no worries." She says and then looks over at the tree Pilar is hiding behind. "Alright, Pilar, we're going. And you had better behave yourself better than last time. No back talking Uncle Pedro, comprendes?"

Pilar looks at them all from the tree and waves. "Adios!" She giggles, sounding almost happy that her parents are leaving her and her sister here with their uncle.

Guadalupe just shakes her head some and looks at Pedro. "Call, of course, if you have any questions, or if Pilar is being out of control, alright? We don't want it to become a circus like the last time she stayed with you." She says.

Pedro shrugs with a small laugh. "They'll be fine, hermana. You and Nataniel have fun. We've got this." Guadalupe smiles back at him and then she and Nataniel get back into their car and drive off. Pedro turns back to Adriana and hands her Yzel. "Here, she shouldn't be much trouble, I wouldn't think...I'm going to round up Pilar and then call for pizza, okay?"

Adriana looks at the chick. "Eh...Fine…" She mutters. She goes to hold the baby at flipper's-length, but then the chick starts crying. Adriana frowns and carries her inside with a sigh. She sits down and looks at the crying chick. "Could you maybe shut up? You don't have a reason to be crying. If anyone has a reason to cry, it is me right now, okay?" Yzel continues to cry as she already misses her mother. She grabs on to Adriana's feathers with her little flippers and buries her face in her feathers, very much against what Adriana wants or likes. Adriana hopes that Pedro will hurry up and get this irritating infant away from her.

Pedro, meanwhile, has tiptoed up to Pilar's tree and he goes quickly around it. "_GOT_-cha?" He says now confused as she is no longer hiding behind the tree. He hears giggling now coming from a nearby bush, so he sneaks over to it. "Pilar, it's time to go inside…" He says softly and looks in the bush.

Pilar just giggles and slides to a new hiding spot. "No! Let's play!" She says. "You it!"

Pedro sighs some. "Are you sure that you don't want to see Uncle Pedro's new pet?" He asks.

"Is it fuzzy?" She asks, peeking around another tree.

"Uhm, no?" He says and shakes his head. "But, I think she is very cute." He says. "Flix thinks the same, I think."

Pilar looks at him curiously. "Okay…" She says and comes out from behind the tree and waddles over to him.

"Sí." He says and gets her flipper. "And maybe tomorrow you can go play with Alejandro since Uncle Diego is back nextdoor until his boat repairs are finished."

"Yay!" Pilar says with a sneaky giggle. She is thinking about a big red bow and skirt she had brought specially with her to be put on him. She likes being able to play 'dress-up doll' with her younger cousin.

Pedro smiles and opens the door and they waddle inside. He sees Adriana and Yzel and comes over and gets Yzel. He looks at Adriana. "Have you already scared her?" He asks, joking.

"Hmm." Adriana snorts getting up and waddling off to the bedroom without another word.

Pilar watches her go and looks back at her uncle. "Who she? Why she mad?" She asks.

"She will soon be your Aunt Adriana." He sighs. "And she is just moody…"

"Why?" She demands.

"Because she is." He says as he rocks the still crying Yzel.

"Why?" She asks again.

"Because!"

"Because is not an answer Mamá says...So, why, Uncle Pedwo? Why she moody?" Pilar says and crosses her flippers.

Pedro sighs and looks at the chick. "Alright, alright, can you keep a secret for me then?"

Pilar quickly nods her head. "YES!"

Pedro nods and sits down with Yzel. "Well, Aunt Adriana is going to have an eggy." He says with a smile.

"Oh...New pwimo?" The child asks then excitedly.

"Or prima*, we don't know which yet." He shrugs and pets Yzel. "Shh, it's okay, chiquita*." He says softly as he looks at Pilar.

The girl nods some and looks back towards the bedroom. "Can I have it if she no want it?" She asks.

"Uh, what?" He asks confused.

Pilar looks at her uncle and rolls her eyes with a sigh. "Can I have babé* if she no like it? I take good care of it! I pet it and love it and clean it and feed it **_FOWEWER_**!" She giggles. "What it name going be?"

Pedro just looks at her and blinks, before shaking his head some. "If it is a boy, he will be named Juarez after abuelita*, and if it is a girl, she will be named Rebecca." He says. "And we plan on keeping it, sorry."

"Awwwwh maaaaaan." She says with a frown. "But it will be sooooo _CUUUUTTTEE_!"

"You mean like your sister?" He asks as he looks at the little chick on his shoulder. Yzel is just finally starting to calm down. She sniffs and rubs her face on her uncle's shoulder.

"NO!" Pilar says with a look as if Pedro is crazy. "She not cute! She evil mast-mind!"

"You mean 'mastermind'?" He asks curious. "And how is she that? She's just a little, adorable chick." He smiles as he softly pets Yzel's back.

Pilar avidly shakes her head. "_NO!_ She only plays being cute! She acts! She bites and kicks and takes my toys! She messed up my colowing book!" She whines, crossing her flippers. "You just twicked like all the other grown ups." She snorts. "She that good at it."

Pedro just chuckles some and pats her on the head. "Are you sure that you're not just jealous or something?" He asks.

"Nuh-uh!" Pilar says, shaking her head again. "She evil!" She says before sliding to the guest room. She goes over to one of the bags and gets her plush duck and hugs it. She then waddles curiously to the master bedroom to see this new aunt. "Hewo?" She asks. "Aunt Adwiana?"

"Go away!" Adriana mutters with her head under her pillow. "I'm not here! I moved back to Spain!" She holds the pillow more tightly down above her head.

Pilar looks at her with a tilted head. She crawls up onto the pet and pokes her. "You look here to me, Silly." She giggles and sticks her head under the pillow as well.

Adriana groans and sits up and looks at the little invader. "What?" She sighs.

"Hi, I Pilar!" She says with a smile.

"I know." Her almost-aunt replies. "Is that all that you are here about? Can I go back to bed?"

Pilar shakes her head and shows her the duck. "This Pepé!" She smiles widely. "Pepé thinks you sad. Sad penguins need hug!" She says and hugs Adriana and buries her face in Adriana's midsection's feathers. "And hewo new pwimo or pwima!" She giggles quietly to Adriana's belly.

Adriana just looks at the chick weirdly before trying to remove the child from her midsection. "Well, you can tell this 'Pepé' that I am not sad. I do not need a hug." She says shortly and tries pushing the chick a bit away from her on the bed.

The chick is back hugging upon her in an instant. "But cousin need huggy!" She says, hugging her tighter.

"No, I am sure that it is perfectly fine without being squeezed to death...Can't you go annoy Pedro or something and leave me be?" She sighs.

Pilar shakes her head, still hugging Adriana. "No...He too busy with evil sissy." She says.

Adriana raises a nonexistent eyebrow at that. "Evil, huh? You don't say..." She says, hoping that maybe going along with whatever this child is going on about will get her to leave sooner.

"Yeah...She always get me in twouble..." She murmurs, squeezing Adriana's midsection still.

"So?" Adriana mutters, detracting the little flippers from around her body. "Maybe she is trying to be friends with or something, I don't know." She says. 'Nor do I care...' She thinks behind that. "Now, can you leave with your duck?" She says. "Little cousin has to nap." She tries. "Otherwise he or she won't be coming at all."

Pilar looks shocked at her for a moment before nodding. "Have nice nappy!" She says to Adriana's belly before climbing down from the bed. She gets to the door and then turns around again, giggling and waving. "Bye!" She says and then scampers from the room. Adriana lays back onto the bed with a groan and lays the pillow over her head.

Pedro looks up from where he is changing Yzel's diaper at Pilar as she enters the room with her duck. "Everything alright, Pilar?" He asks.

Pilar nods and sits with her duck. "Pepé hungwy." She says, turning the stuffed animal to face Pedro. "He want food."

"Is that so?" Pedro chuckles. "Tell Pepé then that after I have finished Yzel's diaper, I'm going to call in some pizza, how does that sound?"

"_YAY PIZZA!_" The chick exclaims and claps her flippers.

* * *

_Translations:_

_* Carro — car_

_* Árbor — tree_

_* Ocho — eight_

_* Siete — seven_

_* Siete y media — seven thirty_

_* Primo (or prima) — cousin (female cousin)_

_* Chiquita — little girl_

_* Babé — baby_

_* Abuelita — grandma_


	7. The Struggles of Bedtime

**A.N.— Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 7: The Struggles of Bedtime**

Pedro chuckles again to himself and looks at Pilar as he has just finished putting the new diaper on Yzel. "While I call in the pizza, why don't you go and see Ramona. She's the new white and green snake in there with Flix." He says.

Pilar nods curiously and waddles with her stuffed duck over to the snakes. "Hewo snakeys!" She giggles, looking into the terrarium. She presses her face close to the glass and watches as they slither around. Flix flicks his tongue out at her and hides inside of a small decorative log in the terrarium. Ramona just looks at Pilar with her large and round dark eyes. She thinks that the child's duck looks tasty. But, before she can even think of trying to get out to get to the duck, Pilar has gotten bored and has waddled away from the cage with Pepé the duck. She waddles to her Uncle Pedro as he places an order for one cheese pizza for him and Pilar and, after thinking for a moment, a spicy jalapeno and tuna pizza for Adriana. He was thinking that maybe for once today he could make her somewhat happy."Uncle Pedwo?" Pilar asks as she looks up at him with her large brown eyes.

"Yes, Pilar?" He replies with a smile as he finishes his order.

"I borded." She says. "Pway wif Ally now?"

Pedro shakes his head. "No, I'm sorry, but you can't go play with Alejandro tonight. That is something I have to warn Uncle Diego about in advance. They might not even be home right now to play." He replies and softly ruffles her head feathers. "Would you like to watch some TV instead? I might have some movies you could watch, if there isn't anything interesting on." He says.

Pilar gives a loud, heavy sigh before nodding. "I guess…" She says. She then waddles back to the living room and climbs up onto the couch and sits with her duck in her lap.

Pedro waddles after her and gets the remote. He flips to a children's channel. "How's this?" He asks.

"No."

"This?" He changes the channel to one about the rainforest.

"Too boring. Pepé would go to sweep-sweep." She says and shakes her head.

Pedro sighs and turns the channel. "How about this one? It is talking about big fluffy tiger kittens." He says.

Pilar shakes her head. "Nuh uh. Pepé no like tigwes*."

"Well, what does Pepé like then?" He asks, looking at her.

The chick looks at her duck for a moment. She then looks at Pedro again. "He wanna watch princess movie!" She then giggles.

Pedro nods some. "Of course Pepé wants to watch princess shows. What respectable duck wouldn't?" He sighs and goes over to a small book of DVDs. "Can't wait until humans figure out how to make DVDs themselves...It's getting annoying having to get VCR tapes transferred to DVDs." He mutters as he flips through the movies. "Here's one you should like." He says as he puts it into the player. He looks at her. "Now, if you need anything, I'm going to be feeding and getting Yzel to sleep, okay? Also, Aunt Adriana is just down the hall…" He says as he waddles back to the kitchen. Pilar nods and watches a version of _Cinderella_ with her duck.

Pedro waddles back to the table and sits down next to the high chair with Yzel in it. He opens a jar of chick food and gets a small spoonful out. "Okay, Yzy, can you open your beak for Uncle Pedro?" He says moving the spoon closer to the chick's beak.

"Nonono." Yzel says and shifts away from the spoon.

"Please? It tastes yummy." He says and pretends to taste it. "Mmm, see? Very good." Yzel just looks at him like he is crazy and closes her beak tighter. "It's the type your mommy sent for you! You ought to like it! Open wide." He says.

Adriana has gotten up because she is hungry and she was wondering if Pedro's pizza had come yet. She waddles into the kitchen and looks at Pedro trying to coax Yzel into eating. "You're not going to get her to eat going about it like that." She mutters.

Pedro turns and looks at her. "How would you know?" He asks. "It's not like you have been around chicks often."

"So? I know I wouldn't eat something if you kept shoving it in _my _face like that." She shrugs as she makes herself a cup of milk.

"Then how in Cuzco do you expect me to feed her?" He says with slightly narrowed eyes.

Adriana sits and looks at him before just taking the food from him. "The right way, idiot." She says, rolling her eyes. She then looks at the child with a faked, forced smile. "Hey, open up for the train! Choo-choo!" She says. Yzel giggles some and opens her beak and Adriana sticks the spoon in her mouth with a certain glance at Pedro. "See? If you want the little pain to eat, you've got to make them _want_ to eat." She says.

Pedro just looks at her. "And how do you know all of this?" He asks.

Adriana only shrugs and tries to get the spoon from Yzel's mouth, but the chick bites on. "Come on, let the train refuel, kid." She mutters. The chick finally releases the spoon and Adriana places another spoonful in her beak.

"Still, how _do_ you know?" He asks, really curious.

"Maybe I just do?" She shrugs. "Call it maternal instinct or whatever. I don't know." She says and rolls her eyes. "Maybe it is just that I have a brain, and you don't." She feeds the child another bite and then glances towards the door as the bell rings. "And if that is the pizza, you might want to get that."

Pedro rolls his eyes and gets up. "I'm not stupid." He murmurs as he waddles to the door and opens it. He pays the pizza-penguin and gets the two boxes and waddles with them to the kitchen.

"YAY PIZZA!" Pilar exclaims and follows him to the kitchen. She climbs up into the chair next to Adriana and smiles at her. "Have nice nappy?" She asks.

"Eh, sure..." Adriana says with a glance at the chick. She continues to feed Yzel and watches Pedro put the pizza slices onto plates. Yzel bites hard on the spoon then and pulls it from Adriana's flipper with a giggle. "Hey!" The almost-aunt exclaims.

"Nanananana-bleeeeeeaaaaaaaaoooooo!" Yzel babbles happily as she swings the spoon around.

Pilar looks at her little sister unamusedly before sighing and pulling the spoon from her little flipper. "See, told you she evil." She mutters, giving the spoon back to Adriana.

Pedro brings the plates to the table and then brings the cups over. "What do you want to drink Pilar? Water, leche*, or juice?" He asks.

"COFFEE!" Pilar exclaims.

"Ehhh, no." He says and shakes his head. "You may have water, leche, or juice. You're too young for coffee. It'll stunt your growth." He says.

Pilar sighs with a disappointed pout. "Have apple juice?" She then asks.

Pedro nods and gets out the juice. "Sí, there is apple juice." Pilar nods and her uncle pours her the juice. He then looks at Adriana. "How about you, Adri?" He asks.

Adriana shrugs some. "Milk refill?" She asks, pushing her cup to him as she finishes feeding Yzel the jar of food. She looks at the chick and rather softly wipes her face off. "Is this all that she needs to eat, or what?" She asks.

"That's all, yes." He says and gives her the refilled glass of milk. He sits down with a soda.

"How come I not have soda?" Pilar demands with a frown at Pedro.

Pedro looks at her. "It's too close to bedtime for you to have caffeine, Pilar." He simply says and starts on his pizza.

Pilar frowns but eats her pizza and drinks her juice. She watches as Yzel keeps trying to get Adriana's pizza. "Look, kid, you've already eaten. Leave me be." Adriana mutters as she pushes the high chair away from her some.

Yzel starts crying. Pedro finishes his pizza with a sigh. "I'll get her to bed..." He says and gets up. He softly gets the chick from the chair and takes her to his and Adriana's room. He gets a pacifier and a pink animal-blanket from the diaper-bag. He softly puts the pacifier in her beak and gives her the blanket before starting to rock her with her little head resting on his shoulder with a small sniff now and then from her.

In the kitchen, Adriana finishes her pizza slice and gets herself another. She sees that Pilar has finished her's too. "Hey, niña*, do you want another slice?" She asks.

"Sí, por favor." Pilar nods. Adriana nods and gives her another slice of pizza and then sits back down with her own plate. Neither say anything for a little while. "What you thwink it is?" The chick then curiously asks.

"Think what is?" Adriana asks and looks at her.

"My new pwimo!" The child giggles.

Adriana shrugs. "I don't know...It has a fifty-fifty chance of being either. And honestly, I don't care which it ends up being." She says, finishing her second plate of pizza.

Pilar looks at her curiously. "Why?"

"Because, it's not like we can take it to a store and trade it for another chick if it isn't the 'right' gender." She shrugs.

Pilar's beak falls open. "You can't?! I thought you could!" She gasps.

Adriana just looks at the child. She wonders where the heck the girl could have come up with such an idea. She knows that by this child's age that she knew better than that. She wonders if the girl is just a little slow like her uncle. "No, Pilar, you're stuck with whichever it ends up being." She says. "Unless you give him or her up for adoption, then you aren't stuck with any children."

"Oh…" Pilar says and thinks on this. She then looks at her duck. "Pepé thinks that weird."

"No weirder than the thought of trading your baby for another at a store." She says as she gets up and takes their plates to the sink. She then gets out three bowls. She scopes some rainbow sherbet into all three and hands one of the bowls to Pilar as she herself sits down with the other. She leaves the other in Pedro's spot for when he returns from baby duty. Adriana eats her frozen dessert and watches as Pilar makes a complete mess with her bowl. "Can you at least _try_ to keep your beak _over_ the bowl?" She sighs.

"Mwowy." The chick mumbles with her beak full of ice cream. She still eats very messily. When Adriana gets up for another bowl of ice cream, she hands Pilar a damp cloth to clean herself off with. She ends up, though, having to clean her as Pilar does a poor job of it herself and is still covered in her sticky sherbet mess.

Pedro, in the bedroom, lays the finally snoozing Yzel down between his and Adriana's sides of the bed and covers her up. He then quietly gets up and waddles back to the kitchen and sits down at his bowl of half-melted ice cream. He looks at them curiously. "So...Have you been discussing anything interesting?" He asks.

Pilar nods. "Babies cannot be tradeded at the store!" The chick exclaims.

Pedro looks at her for a moment. "Euhm...Okaaay?" He says slowly and then looks at Adriana with a strange look. His fiancé only shrugs and eats her bowl of ice cream. "Uhhhmmm...Anything else?" He asks.

Pilar shakes her head. "Nope." She says.

Adriana looks at them and then takes the empty bowls to the sink. "And Pilar needs a bath or something as she is wearing more of her sherbet than she ate." She says. "I'll let you tend to that." She simply says as she starts washing the dishes.

"Of course…" He sighs and looks at the chick. He then picks her up. "Let's go get you cleaned up and then off to bed." He smiles.

"But I no wanna go bed! No sweep-sweep!" She says, avidly shaking her head.

Pedro looks at her. "But you have to sleep!" He says as he carries her to the bathroom.

"No!" Pilar says. Her uncle only sighs and begins to run some nice warm water into the tub for the chick to take her bath in. He softly sits her in the tub and gently washes the ice cream all off of her. Pilar splashes some and coughs as he tries to wash her head feathers. "You drowning me!" She exclaims between coughs.

"Sorry, Pilar, I'm not trying to." He says as he finishes. He then gets a towel and gets her from the tub and dries her off. As soon as she is dried, Pilar slides away from Pedro. "Pilar! It's bed time!" He exclaims, following after her.

"No!" The chick slides away.

Adriana watches them as she finishes putting away the last few dishes. She then rolls her eyes and goes on to their bedroom. She looks at the baby sleeping in the bed and sighs some. "Must she sleep in here?" She mutters to herself as she gets into the bed. She soon is fast asleep next to Yzel. Pedro and Pilar don't have nearly as simple of a time.

"Pilar! If you do not stop this you won't be allowed to go play with Alejandro tomorrow!" Pedro pants in frustration as he looks for the chick.

"You not the boss of me! I won't go sweep!" Pilar shouts back from under the couch.

Pedro kneels down next to the couch. "I am too the boss of you as long as you and your sister are staying with me." He says as he reaches under the couch for her. "Don't make me call your madre!"

Pilar only scoots away from his flipper and starts crying. "But I no waaaaaannaaaaaaaaa go to sweeeeeeeeeeeep!"

Her uncle finally manages to get a hold of her and pulls her out from under the couch. "Now, Pilar, you know it is your bedtime." He says. "You won't have any energy to play tomorrow if you don't sleep tonight, alright? And shouldn't Pepé get to sleep some, too? I mean, a duck needs his sleep, right?"

Pilar sniffs some and thinks on this. "G-guess so..." She sniffs.

"Bueno." Pedro smiles some and pets her head. He gives her her duck and carries her to the guest room. He sits her in the bed and tucks her in. "Now, be a good chiquita and get some sleep..." He says quietly and then goes from the room. He closes the door mostly, but leaves a little crack for Pilar and waddles to his and Adriana's room. He lays down next to them. "Lucky ducks..." He mutters, seeing as how they are both sleeping. He turns over and tries to sleep himself. He is nearly asleep when he hears a noise and opens his eyes. "Wah!" He exclaims and jumps as he sees a small face right in front of his. He rubs his eyes some and looks at Pilar. "Chica, what are you doing up?" He quietly yawns.

"Too scareded to sweep..." She sniffs, hugging her duck really close. "Sweep wif you?"

Pedro sighs and looks at the already crowded bed. "If you can fit and keep from waking everyone else up..." He whispers and scoots over to the edge of the bed. Pilar nods with another small sniff and climbs up into the bed. She wiggles in close to Pedro and Yzel and tries to go to sleep. Pedro glances at the clock before yawning and covering her up more and going back to sleep. He silently hopes that his and Adriana's child won't be so hard to deal with.

* * *

_Translations:_

_*Tigwe (tigre) — tiger_

_*Leche — milk_

_*Niña — little girl_


End file.
